Losing Confidence With Our Citi Credit Card

We’ve been loyal users of our Citi Dividends credit cards for years. I actually got my wife to switch to one back when we were dating.

They’ve served us well, and I even wrote a lightheartedpost a few months back about how it worked to our advantage when my wife was unexpectedly given a new card as we were flagged by our grocery store as a new customer.

The only problem is, it’s happened again.

That’s twice in less than a year (closer to six months) that my wife got a new card. Their reasoning is because of a potential data violation.

They won’t tell you anything more. It’s not because of anything she did. It’s something on Citi’s end.

And it’s starting to make me lose faith in their credit card system. Are they not secure? Are they leaking information? Is there a system error that’s flagging something incorrectly?

None of these options are good in my mind.

Maybe I’m looking at this the wrong way. Maybe I should be happy that they’re finding some issue (or even the perception of an issue) and responding. But, I guess I have to question why these issues even arise. It’s definitely time to consider new options.

7 thoughts on “Losing Confidence With Our Citi Credit Card”

I just called BoFA yesterday to do a balance transfer ( 0% for 18 months, 4% fee) I've been a "customer" since 2000. They lady asked for my social security number. The whole thing not just last four. Of course I declined and she said it wasn't needed prior to 9-11. I hung up on her and now I'm thinking of just closing the account all together. I've got plenty of cash where as I don't need to ever use a credit card again. I do have one other card Discover that I've been with since 1999. I guess that will be it now!

Eek! I have a citibank card as well, and they sent us new cards because they took away points earned from miles flown (darn!). I have thought about switching just because of that…fortunately no security breaches for us yet thank goodness.

We just got our USAA card hacked somehow, and now it's been cancelled and we're waiting for a replacement. More and more, we're moving away from credit and debit and just going to cash and checks. Perhaps we'll get a pre-paid with a small amount for online purchases.

I've also backed away from using credit cards as much, though having a good rewards card is important. I keep a check card because it's easier to keep up with my account balance, and because I despise writing checks! I feel like I've been hearing about credit card company security breaches more and more often lately – and it's quite alarming. Which is why, like Gina, I refuse to give my SSN over the phone. You just never know these days, and it's very important, for our finances and credit standing, that we are all more aware of fraud. Congratulations on the new addition to your family!

Has happened to me in the past. Unfortunately, nothing we could do. I can take precautions when I shop online by either using one-time use card numbers or shopping with trusted retailers. But if the breach is at the bank's end, we just have to treat it as an inconvenience.